If Russia does not receive a guarantee that its demands will be met by May 18, the grain deal “destroys”. This was expressed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Vershinin.
“Because an initiative that benefits only one of the parties is unlikely to be recognized and approved by everyone. “After negotiations on the extension of the Black Sea Initiative, we naturally protect the national interests of Russia, its agricultural and fertilizer producers, first and foremost,” he said. His words were quoted by TASS.
The meeting of the representatives of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN took place in Istanbul. “I think the debates of today and yesterday [в Стамбуле] It was useful in terms of punctuating the works in terms of the implementation of the Istanbul contracts”,
– TASS quotes him.
Reminding that the decision to extend the 60-day extension was last made on March 18, Vershinin said, “There is still a period of time. Naturally, we follow very closely what has been done to correct the distortions and deficiencies of this initiative.”
A spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Moscow opposes the permanent extension and expansion of the agreement. Although the West advocates it.
According to the diplomat, Russia will continue to seek the realization of its interests within the framework of the initiative: “We have achieved this, we are succeeding and we will continue to achieve it. Without it, Russia’s participation in such events has no meaning and relevance.
Vershinin stressed that Russian exports still “face obstacles.” Now, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry says that “only Ukraine’s supply of grain and agricultural products has been given the green light” and that Russia’s interests have been pushed aside.
Vershinin reminded that the agreements signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 consist of two parts.
The first part concerns the export of Ukrainian grain from the Ukrainian-controlled Black Sea port. This part is well and safely executed, during this time more than 30 million tons of grain were exported,” he said.
But the second part of the agreements, or the memorandum between the Russian Federation and the UN, is “poorly implemented,” according to Moscow.
We can say that much has been said and promised so far, and we appreciate the efforts of the UN and the UN Secretary-General. [Антониу Гутерриша]. At the same time, there are no concrete results for us yet,” he said.
He emphasized that the statements of Washington, Brussels and London that Russia’s agricultural exports are not subject to sanctions are not confirmed in practice. There are problems with transactions, logistics and transportation, insurance.
As noted by Jim O’Brien, head of the Office of the Coordination of State Department Sanctions, the United States is ready to support the decision of the parties to the grain agreement if they agree on conditions for the export of Russian ammonia fertilizers. . He did not clarify exactly what he had in mind, but advised the Russian representatives to clarify how important this was to the country and reach an agreement.
Earlier, the State Department said that US authorities regularly communicate with domestic and foreign banks. They convince them that operations related to Russian food and fertilizer exports are not subject to sanctions.
Jim O’Brien, head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, said there were “a few small questions at first” regarding payments made by countries in Africa, but that the United States had “nearly received any reports of concern regarding the difficulty of the payment.” to pay Russia.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the further extension of the grain agreement depends on the implementation of several conditions of Moscow:
– reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system;
– resumption of the supply of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services;
— lifting restrictions on insurance and reinsurance;
— lifting the ban on access to ports;
– Restarting the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline;
– unblocking of foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies involved in the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.
At the same time, the Turkish side confirmed at the end of April that the interests of Russia were not fully observed.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu noted that there are problems in terms of “payments, insurance and banking services, as well as the export of Russian ships, access to ports”.
“This is an indirect obstacle. We’re told, sir, they’re not on the sanctions list. Do these issues persist even if they are not on the sanctions list? Yes, they continue. “The United States and England have taken decisions, so they are not on the sanctions list, but still American banks, British banks and insurance companies do not support this,” he said.
Ankara also expresses hope that in the near future the parties will be able to reach an agreement to extend the agreements by at least two months. The UN emphasized on May 11 that the non-renewal of the document threatens world food security and may also lead to an increase in the costs of products. This was expressed by the official representative of UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric. He added that “all parties involved, directly or indirectly, must comply with their obligations.”